LP pressings..which country or label...

I agree with both of the above. I gravitate to UK or German recordings first, if i have no beforehand knowledge. Canada is not to far behind. Japan is a little iffy. Not much luck with the Netherlands. The US is hit and miss. If one has the inclination, you can track down the info on some artist website somewhere, hosted by some fanatic fan, the best pressing of many albums. I used to use cost as an identifier of quality on Gemm.com, but that is now very dangerous. My wife quit asking why i have 5 or 6 pressings of the same album.

All the above is right on... I would add more warnings about Japanese pressings. While always quieter, they sometimes lack the punch of their American versions (which are, alas, almost always noisier, especially with things like prestige and blue note jazz) and sometimes they're downright amateurish (The Japanese Yes Album has one spot where they change volume mid-song!). So it's a trade-off. If you have a friendly vinyl store, they might let you compare (imports aren't usually sealed) side by side (bring in your version to the store). A couple stores here in Seattle will actually let me do that. Let's hear it for The Landing and Sonic Boom!

right-on about japanese. not worth spending extra over us versions. they have lower output level. seems that they have more shallow grooves than other pressings. i dare stand for netherlands(holland) since quality of their albums compete well with german ones sometimes even better.
uk albums are always unpredictable. i'm the brit invasion fan and possess lots of uk original albums that i don't find sound any better than the same us versions. the only album i realy love for its great quality is pink floyd "the wall" original uk that sounds outstanding in all means.

Yes the UK vinyl of The Wall is the best edition I have found - and I have most every version around. I would agree with the other remarks above especially concerning German and Japanese vinyl.

Thanks cats for your input. I'll just keep flipping through the piles in search of that Japanese, German or UK pressing until my fingers start to bleed...but in the end, it's all good.